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Yu Pavilion @ Kovan Heartland Mall · A Taste of Tradition · Hakka Rice Wine Chicken


Hakka rice wine chicken is not commonly sold in Singapore restaurants or hawker stalls. So, it is quite unusual that a full fledged restaurant proudly has the dish as one of their signatures.

Restaurant name: Yu Pavilion


Address: 205 Hougang Street 21, #03-18/19 Heartland Mall, Singapore 530205


Nearest MRT: 3 minutes walk from Kovan station


Tel: 6970 8598


Hours: 11am - 3pm | 5pm - 10 pm



Yu Pavilion is a well appointed Chinese cuisine restaurant hidden away at the third level of Heartland Mall conveniently at the doorstep of Kovan MRT station.

Yu Pavilion have a full fledged, extensive Chinese cuisine menu. I hope to come back and try more dishes soon.

Anyway, today is a hosted tasting session. 

I mean Yu Pavilion was trying out some new dishes with rice wine from a traditional Hakka rice wine brewer and I got the previlege to taste them before they go on the regular menu 😀

I was the only non Hakka person in today's panel 😬

Warmed up with the rice wine and various garnishes. There's preserved plum, cucumber, lime, etc.

The rice wine was smooth, sweet, tangy and took on a bit of the flavours from the garnishes e.g. the saltiness from the preserved plum, the green cucumber taste, etc. Somehow, the flavours of these garnishes melled seamlessly well with the rice wine.

That I felt is how the rice wine worked well with the various dishes we were going to try next.

Ice vegetable and thick slices of smoked duck dressed with a sweet tangy rice wine sauce to get our tasting rolling, saliva flowing. It was excellent 👍

Yu Pavilion's signature Hakka rice wine chicken. 

The ginger heat and sweet tangy rice wine tastes were strong, along with savoury sweetness from the chicken. The thick viscous soup was delicious and aromatic.

This rice wine chicken is already on Yu Pavilion's menu and one of their best sellers.

Perfect with simple boiled rice.

Now, trying out their testing dishes.

Same rice wine chicken but reduced version with less stock, more wine, more ginger.

I like this as the flavours, more intense are still smooth and well balanced.

With fish, just like the chicken version.


Fried prawn dressed with mayo with sweet tangy rice wine.

Parsimon topped with rice wine dreg.

The dreg was soft like a moist paste with a subtle graininess. Gentle sweet tangy taste which complemented the sweet juicy parsimon perfectly. I look forward to having this again at Yu Pavilion 😋 So refreshing, and delightfully delicious.

Soy bean curd topped with rice wine dreg.

The Hakka rice wine and dregs elevated the flavours and character of every dish that it is combined with. I enjoyed every dish.

I will be back at Yu Pavilion to try their menu dishes and hopefully will be enjoying some of these rice wine infused dishes I tried out today.


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Written by Tony Boey on 13 Oct 2023

🎗Disclaimer: Please note that this was a hosted tasting. I very rarely attend hosted tastings. I did not pay for these food but I did not receive any payment for writing this post. I report exactly how I felt even though that could mean that I may not receive another tasting invite again 😄

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